"A Warrior's Heart," by Misty M. Beller

 "A Warrior's Heart," by Misty M. Beller

"Brielle Durand is still haunted by the massacre that killed her mother a dozen years before. Vowing to never let it happen again, she's risen to be the key defender for her people's peace-loving French settlement living in hidden caves in the Canadian Rockies. When a foreigner wanders too near to their secret home, she has no choice but to disarm and capture him. But now, what to do with this man who insists he can be trusted?

Hoping to escape past regrets, Evan MacManus ventured into the unknown, assigned to discover if the northern mountains contain an explosive mineral that might help America win the War of 1812. Despite being taken prisoner, Evan is determined to complete his mission. But when that assignment becomes at odds with his growing appreciation of the villagers and Brielle, does he follow through on his promise to his government or take a risk on where his heart is leading him? Either choice will cause harm to someone.

Brielle and Evan must reconcile the warring in their hearts to have any hope of finding peace for their peoples."

I had high hopes for this book, but I am afraid it didn't live up to it.  I am not sure if it was the slow pace of this story or just the lack of depth in the story, but it didn't capture my imagination.  The way this story ended just didn't make sense to me, there was a lot of loose ends that needed to be tied up.  

This is the first book in the "Brides of Laurent" series; and normally you get a complete ending with the main characters, so when you read the next in the series, you move onto another main set of characters, with the characters from the first book taking second stage.  There is still a lot of story to be told regarding Brielle and Evan.

I wished there had been some author's notes about how she came to write this book and more about Pitchblende.

Stars out of 5 : 3 I didn't hate this book, I read it through to the end, but I know I will totally forget about it soon.  It just didn't live up to my expectations.

"Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc. 

Available at your favourite bookseller from Bethany House, a division of Baker Publishing Group".